Perfectly Broken
by Windsett
Summary: When Vanellope watched Ralph destroy her kart, something inside her broke too. Utterly distraught, she ran into diet cola mountain and was prepared to never leave it. But someone has other plans for her, and she's in just the right frame of mind to listen to them.


**AN: This is one of my ideas on how Vanellope got captured in the Fungeon after Ralph smashed her kart, but it ended up a bit bleaker than what I'd originally planned. And I haven't written King Candy before, and wanted to try writing something with him in it. (This story doesn't have his lisp clearly written out, but my next attempt at him will)**

* * *

'This is quite a place you've made for yourself here.'

The softly spoken words caused Vanellope to gasp, and she felt herself glitch in shock. The owner of the quietly jubilant voice was no stranger, but she'd never thought she'd hear him speak in here, in front of her. Not in her home.

Not in her sanctuary.

From her position in a curled ball on her makeshift bed, Vanellope snapped her head up and saw him. King Candy was here, in diet cola mountain, looking for all the world as if he owned the place and was coming back to inspect the work his decorators had finished. With his arms folded across his chest his gaze travelled around the rocks, briefly taking in their shapes and sizes, before they scanned the living compartment carved into the wall that Vanellope inhabited. Vanellope quickly averted her face, as the King catalogued the items she'd found or stolen or created.

King Candy then swivelled his head to take in the bubbling pool of burning cola, and watched several bubbles expand and then pop. With his eyes he climbed the steep rocks and scaled the high cliffs until they formed the broken bridge jump. When he came to the gap between the ledges he raised his eyes even higher, up into the arching roof, where columns of thick mentos hung suspended over it all.

A creamy coloured mint wobbled and, as if the King's surveillance was too much for it to bear, it broke off from the group to give itself up. King Candy followed its tumbling plummet down towards oblivion and, as it landed with a splash in the boiling hot cola, a faint smile tugged at his lips. The dark liquid fizzed violently and threw up a burst of hot cola as a result of the mint's impact, but King Candy didn't move a muscle as spatters of it flew precariously past him. Once all the splashes had finished and the lava pool had calmed down, he turned back towards the mountain's lodger.

'Yes, it really _is_ quite a place here. And dangerous too, might I add!'

Vanellope closed her eyes at the obvious glee that last sentence was draped in, and she contracted her small body tighter. She was encased in a sweet wrapper she had rolled herself into, and she pulled it tighter around her, as if it could be a shield against him. Perhaps if she couldn't see him he'd go away, or maybe this was just a nightmare, and she'd wake up soon. But she didn't really believe that.

She didn't really believe in anything any more.

'Despite the…_unique_ landscape and obvious race track potential, this really isn't a place for a child to stay. _Especially_ if that little mistake is already at risk.' King Candy uncrossed his arms, and stood up straighter.

'…what do you want?' Vanellope asked weakly, as she slowly cracked her eyes open. She raised her head and shoulders to address King Candy at the sound of 'mistake', a favourite insult for the racers to torment her with, but that was all the movement she could manage. Her body remained curled in a foetal position on her bed, and she didn't even twitch at his next words.

'I want to help you Vanellope,' King Candy explained, as he clasped his hands together in front of him, a perfect picture of white concern silhouetted against a fiery red backdrop. 'And to explain why Ralph destroyed your kart. I know you'll find it hard to understand why on face value, so it's my duty to spell it out to you.' He leaned forward, and a too sweet smile burbled onto his face. 'Then you'll understand, and will know what it's like to be reasonable for once in your life.'

Vanellope knew she should want to stand up and- no not stand up; she should want to jump up, to _leap_ up, to stride proudly forward until she was face to face with the King, and glare up at him in righteous defiance and point and rage and set him straight and _demand_ that she leave her alone.

But these thoughts of what she should do only made her heart beat feebly, when they should have set it alight. Her mind was still sluggish from the knowledge of what Ralph had done, and her body seemed content to be nothing more than pieces of dead weight. Her arms were frozen from grief, and legs paralyzed by betrayal.

Vanellope regarded King Candy with blank eyes, and didn't move a muscle from her prone position.

'After I spoke to the Wrecker I hid and watched him,' King Candy explained, as he unclasped his hands and let them hang at his side. 'To make sure he did the job properly, and didn't have a last minute change of heart. We both know he didn't, so I won't describe repeat what he did. Then I followed you, into this wonderful hidden place, and here we are!'

When Vanellope had seen Ralph smash her kart, she'd felt something inside herself break as well. They had made that kart together, and risked dreadful capture to preserve it. They'd worked together to escape, and she'd trusted him enough to share the secrets of this mountain with him. He'd helped teach her to drive, and fired her self-belief that she was a racer, a _real _racer, and that she could actually win the race, that she _would_ win it, and she'd thought herself invincible.

But that had all been lies, for he'd traded her in for a burnished medal still warm from King Candy's grip. Her friend was nothing more than a selfish liar, and he'd ruined more than just four candy wheels when he'd chosen to believe King Candy's words over hers. She'd then said her last words to Ralph, had run blindly into diet cola mountain, thrown herself onto her bed, and cried until she tasted bile in her mouth.

She must have stopped crying at some point, but she didn't remember doing so. And now King Candy was here, and she finally felt lost. She had been confined to this game but still banished from it, and the only safe place left had now been compromised. King Candy's presence here felt like a cold needle in her chest - unnatural, painful, and a tiny movement either way could be fatal. It was a grotesque violation, and all the more painful for its calm suddenness.

'Yes, help you,' King Candy repeated kindly. 'Despite being nothing more than a glitch, you _are_ still my subject, and so deserve my protection.' The King then reached down to pick up a bag Vanellope hadn't noticed before. It was heavy, and the King lifted it up slowly in one hand. With the other hand he opened it and reached inside, looking at Vanellope with a blunted caution all the time.

Vanellope's eyes widened slightly and her breathing faltered, as she watched the King pull out a length of black chain. Its dull black links were numerous, and radiated out of a thick band the perfect width of her waist. King Candy held up this central lock, and the chains fell in a heavy shower to the floor. 'As well as the medal, I also wanted to give these back to their rightful owner.' He ran a finger underneath the engraved letters on it, and Vanellope knew the Glitch Proof bonds had been created especially for her.

'I know you think me heartless, but sometimes you have to be cruel to be kind,' King Candy clarified, as he advanced slowly towards Vanellope. The chains trailed in the King's wake and, as they clinked out a dark promise of imprisonment, Vanellope began to cry.

King Candy's smile was twisted. 'That won't help my dear. The only way to get what you really want in this life is through action, not reaction. I learnt that lesson the hard way.'

Vanellope freed a hand to wipe the streams from her eyes. 'No, don't, I…I'll be safe in here, I will. I have been, and…and I won't ever leave, I promise.'

King Candy's steps were cautious but steady, and he tensed his body in case he had to make a sudden movement. 'An unfinished track for an incomplete racer. A perfect match you could say. But you don't belong here.' He took another step, and planted the sole of his foot firmly on the ground. 'The volcano could explode, and take you with it. It could take _all_ of us with it. Did you ever consider that?'

Vanellope sniffed, and unravelled her other hand to wipe her eyes. 'It…it wouldn't. It hasn't. It's a part of the game, like…like me…' She broke off and started sobbing again.

King Candy took another pace forwards. His face was empty of sentiment, and his top lip began to curl upwards in faint disgust at the sight in front of him. Vanellope cleared her tears and, as she turned her head to look at him again, King Candy plastered a kind and sympathetic expression on his face. 'Your past actions have been to run, and to fight, and to deceive, but now I ask you to choose differently. You can choose to come with me Vanellope, and to guarantee the safety of everyone in this world.'

Vanellope sniffed again, and through watery eyes regarded her Monarch in lethargic fear.

'You already know why I ban you from racing, but still you choose to ignore me,' King Candy explained, as he sighed in disappointment. 'You choose to put your own desires ahead of the lives of everyone here. The other racers…they think you're selfish, and…and they're _scared_ of you Vanellope.'

At this revelation Vanellope blinked, and she felt the tears continue to build up behind her eyes but not break through. With what seemed like a superhuman effort, she forced herself to sit up. The sweet wrapper uncrumpled further, and with a shiver she wrapped her arms around her chest. '…what? No, they…they're not scared. _I'm_ the one who…' Vanellope sniffed again, and felt the salty tears begin to dry on her cheeks. '…I didn't mean to scare them,' she concluded in a weak and small voice. She knew she wasn't to blame, but just the thought of explaining herself - of arguing and defending herself - exhausted her, and made her ache down into her bones.

As if he hadn't heard a word she'd said, King Candy continued. 'The other racers are scared of what you could do to them. That's why they destroyed your kart you know - they were scared you would enter the race. And we all know that if you finish a race the players will discover your glitch, and we'll all be unplugged. Yes they could have acted in a kinder manner but they're just scared children, and I have to make some allowances for them.'

Vanellope regarded the King steadily for a second, still consumed by hurt and still numb from grief. But there was a whisper of a threat of her old personality trying to burn through, in her posture and the slow shift of her features, but before they could activate King Candy struck them down.

'But Ralph didn't destroy your kart out of fear and self-preservation.'

At the sound of Ralph's name Vanellope flinched as if struck, and she wrapped her arms around herself tighter.

'Wreck-It Ralph could have refused me, and ignored my warning about being unplugged like you do. He could have overpowered me in a second and taken the medal by force. What possible chance could I have against him?' King Candy paused, as if considering such an awful scenario. 'But he _didn't_. He destroyed your kart not just because I offered him the medal, but because he knew it was the right thing to do. He knew that _I_ was right.'

Vanellope felt a thin stream of tears begin to flow again, but she made no effort to wipe them away. Remembering Ralph's betrayal was like an acid burning through her, and she felt her stomach clench violently.

King Candy took another step, and lowered his voice into a convincing imitation of regret. 'And…and I know this is difficult to hear, but he also wrecked your kart because…well because he _enjoyed_ it.'

Vanellope managed half a gasp before her breath caught in her throat. The immediate refusal of such a claim was killed dead before it could be fully formed, not just because of the possible spike of truth it may contain, but also because King Candy's face was now directly in front of her own.

The King had silently completed his advance and was now looming over her. His mouth was twisted in a small sympathetic smile, but it didn't reach his eyes; those were still and steady, and they regarded Vanellope as a necessary evil to be overcome. 'It was enjoyment on a basic level of course, but it's in his programming don't forget.' The King rested the trails of chains on the floor, and held the main lock between both hands. 'Wrecking is in his _code_, and is what he's meant to do. Ralph was actually _relieved_ to do it to tell the truth,' the King quickly added, in case Vanellope began to argue that _her_ code had written her as a real racer.

But she didn't think to argue this. Vanellope's eyes didn't gleam and harden, and her posture didn't glitch with anger. She just sat there, as each memory of Ralph's betrayal - each remembered image that flashed in her mind - dissolved a small fragment of her.

'The Wrecker looked heartbroken and full of regret when he smashed your kart up, but that was only for your benefit,' King Candy clarified. He released the well-oiled hinges on the clasp, and opened out both parts of it. 'He didn't want to make it any harder for you than necessary, so he pretended to look conflicted and hurt.' He held the opened bond steady, to allow Vanellope to view it clearly and become accustomed to it.

Still without making any sudden movements, King Candy began to bend down lower towards her. 'Did you ever consider that Ralph could have _prevented_ you from seeing his destruction?' Vanellope made no sound, and a fresh trickle of tears was all the answer she could manage. 'He could have sent you back into the mountain, just for a few seconds, while he did his work, and you would have been spared the sight of it. But he didn't. He made you _watch_.' King Candy shook his head, as if bewildered by such a distasteful action. He had finished his slight descent, and was now mere inches away from Vanellope. He looked squarely into her eyes, and saw nothing but pain in them.

'What kind of a friend does that?' King Candy asked, as he rested the chain on the bed Vanellope sat frozen on. 'What kind of a _person_ does that?' Vanellope didn't speak after the question was asked, and didn't move as the King put one hand on the bed to rest his weight on. 'A _Bad_ Guy Vanellope, that's who. Come with me, and I'll made sure no-one ever hurts you again. Not the racers, or anyone else from any other game. You'll be shielded from them all.'

Vanellope was on the verge of agreeing, but still she wavered. She could formulate no argument against the King, even though she knew there was one. She felt utterly exhausted, and drained, and half-wondered where she was getting the energy to breathe from.

King Candy pressed on and leaned in even closer, until his nose was almost touching her. 'What else have you got left Vanellope? You have no kart, and no chance to race. You have no-one here who can stand the sight of you, and no great hero friend from the outside. You only have yourself, a dangerous mistake of a glitch. But you can still achieve something with your existence; you can still _be _someone, if you come with me. Give yourself up, and

you'll guarantee the safety of everyone. Sacrifice your dreams to race, and you'll be rewarded with your life. Your name will still be spoken, but this time in admiration.'

Vanellope remained stock still, as the King's word ate into her. They corroded slowly, but they achieved their purpose. Vanellope bowed her head, and saw drops of wet drip into her lap.

'…is that a yes?' The King prompted slowly. His tone was gently, and his words like the soft hiss of a snake.

Vanellope gave a clear nod, and the King's lips widened. 'You've done a wonderful thing Vanellope. Self-sacrifice is the noblest art of all.'

His next actions were startlingly precise, as if they'd been practised a hundred times before, as he swiftly put the clasp around Vanellope's middle and locked it with a snap. Still careful not to touch her until the bond was secure, the King gave it an experimental pull. It held, and Vanellope jerked forward.

King Candy failed to supress his growing smile. 'It's time to go now.'

Before Vanellope had the chance to take it all in, to really consider what was happening, the thunderstorm in her mind swallowed any wisps of doubt and warning that flared briefly up.

King Candy immediately applied a soft pressure to the chain as he pulled it slowly forwards, and with dragging feet and downcast eyes Vanellope began to shuffle forward. He gave the chain another yank, harder this time, and Vanellope allowed him to lead her out of the dark mountain and into the perpetually bright world outside. She scuffled through the chocolate dusted ground towards the King's gleaming white kart, and as she reached it she felt the King's cold hand rest gently on her shoulder.

'Let's get you somewhere _safe _my dear.'

His hand contorted into a fist, as he gripped Vanellope and led her closer to the kart. Vanellope heard the clinks of the chain as if from a great distance, and she couldn't remember the sun ever being so hot and merciless and painfully bright, as it hung like a solitary spotlight in the great blue sky.

'Let's get you somewhere more _sheltered_.'

He pinched harder, and Vanellope felt detached from the sharp spikes of pressure eating into her arm. The King's fingers looked soft and his sympathetic smile appeared genuine but, like Vanellope's understanding of the situation, they were artificial. King Candy guided her to sit on the back of his kart and, even in the thick fog of misery she was drowning in, the satisfaction in the King's voice burned though it clearly.

'Let's get you somewhere you _belong.'_

The drive to the castle seemed over before it had begun, and after they followed the high road to the castle's entrance, the kart was brought to a gradual halt. King Candy twisted in his seat, and put a finger underneath Vanellope's chin. He slowly raised it, and Vanellope lifted her head in response to the feather light pressure. Her obedience was automatic, and her movements mechanical. She then raised her eyes, and stared blankly ahead at the soaring pink castle. It advertised splendour and sweetness, and there was no sign of a dark and hopeless fungeon buried in its depths.

'We're here Vanellope…'

The ranks of Oreo guards had spotted their approach, and they parted like two waves to reveal the entrance doors.

King Candy removed his finger, swivelled back around, and rested his hand lightly on the steering wheel. With a delicate finger from the other hand he pressed the start button and ignited the kart. The engine purred gently as he put it into gear and they rolled forward. As they passed through the doors and into the castle itself, speed increasing by the second, King Candy grinned widely, and raised his voice above the wind rushing down the corridor.

'…home sweet home!'


End file.
